Double Take: Meyer Lemon Aioli

Pan con Aioli/ Brot mit Aioli/ Bread with Aioli

When Tabitha suggested Meyer lemons as the Ingredient of the Month for February, I was excited. I've never worked with Meyer Lemons before and was thrilled to get the excuse. I had no idea what I wanted to do with them, so I set about looking up recipes. I looked and looked and even found a great article in the LA Times with 100 different Meyer Lemon recipes. I took note of several completely ignored my list. Today was the day to post our blogs. I'd acquired the Meyer lemons two weeks ago from Trader Joe's (I haven't seen them at Publix), so they were on hand. I just needed to find a quick recipe. And when I was shopping for beverages today at Publix I got a brilliant idea. Pizza dough was BOGO, and I went from there.

This post completely took me back to our little town in Germany, Jena. Bender and I have only been back in the States for six months, but it seems like it's been so much longer than that. Occasionally on Fridays, Bender and I would meet up with some of his coworkers at Picasso's, a little tapas bar downtown. I'd generally get there first even though I worked half an hour away and they worked only five minutes away, but our research groups had different... um... Friday philosophies on work. I'd sit down, order my water and Brot mit Aioli. Also listed on the menu as Pan con Aioli. Picasso's was an interesting tapas place. The waitresses would prepare all the tapas in two little toaster ovens. Brot/Pan refers to bread, and their version was a 15 inch baguette. The toaster ovens were not quite 15 inches long, so you'd see half of the baguette sticking out while the other half toasted. And then it'd get flipped. The aioli came from a jar, but Picasso's had the best aioli of all the tapas places we tried in Germany. Theirs was particularly garlicky, yet creamy and smooth. And delicious.

For the baguette, I subbed breadsticks made from the pizza dough. I formed them, sprayed them with olive oil, and then sprinkled them with garlic powder for a little extra kick. They subbed perfectly. Sometimes I make my own pizza dough, but you'll have to forgive me for being lazy on a Friday afternoon.

If you're not in the mood for bread with aioli, Bobby Flay recommends serving it alongside fried artichokes. While that sounds fabulous, that wasn't quite what I was looking for. But if you do try that, let me know!

Meyer lemons are a bit smaller, darker, and sweeter than regular lemons.

Meyer Lemon Aioli

adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

1 Meyer lemon, zested and juiced

¼ cup olive oil

¾ cup vegetable oil

Method:

Lightly chop the garlic. Pour the salt on top of the chopped garlic on your cutting board. Using the side of your chef's knife, smear the garlic and salt together. Repeat until the salt and garlic form a smooth-ish paste. Whisk in the egg yolk, lemon zest, and juice until integrated. Add the olive oil in a slow trickle to the side of the until completely combined. Add the vegetable oil in a steady stream, whisking until completely combined.

THOUGHTS:

After my failed attempt at aioli, I was a little worried. But... I did it! I made mayo-ish from scratch! Yippee! And it was easy, too. Just keep whisking. Just keep whisking. Whisking. Whisking. Anyone else hearing Ellen Degeneres sing that?

And the taste? It didn't completely transport me back to Germany, but it came close. The garlic hits you first, but it wasn't quite as garlicky as I'd hoped. You could easily double the garlic. (Hehe. Hi, Tabs!) After the garlic comes the olive oil taste, followed by something a little off. I'm guess it was the lemon. Not my favorite. But it wasn't bad. It was good. I just gotta figure out what to do with an entire cup of aioli. I bet it'd be great on my morning mashed avocado on toast. :)

Have you made aioli before? What do you like to serve it with?

VERDICT:

It's-fine: 1 vote

Try-again-with-light-tasting-olive-oil-and-a-smidge-more-garlic: 1 vote

To find out what Tabitha did with Meyer lemons, head on over to Double the Garlic! 

Garlicky, lemony aioli